Every project management job opening attracts a pile of resumes from interested applicants. In order to stand out from the competition, your resume needs to highlight your accomplishments. Including accomplishments in your resume is the best way to show prospective employers what you can do for them. What’s more, hiring managers know what skills they’re looking for; what they really want to know is how you compare with other candidates.
The benefits don’t stop there.
The competition for good jobs is tight and many applicants describe similar skills, duties and responsibilities in their resumes. Managers want to hire the best talent available. Unfortunately, describing your duties and responsibilities does not convey much about what you are capable of achieving. The good news is that rephrasing duties as quantifiable accomplishments helps your resume stand out from the rest of the pack.
The following tips tell you how to add accomplishments to your resume and land the interview.
Use Specific Action Verbs
Replace generic phrases like ‘responsible for’ with positive, action-oriented verbs like ‘developed,’ implemented’ or ‘designed.’ This shows you as the initiator of action.
Action verbs start off each sentence with a bang, provide instant information to hiring managers – making it easier to skim through your resume – and help recruiters picture you in the role. What’s more, they also help your resume flow from one point to another without redundant phrases such as ‘in addition to’ or ‘also’.
Quantify Your Achievements
Employers want to see reliable, solid results which are best described in numbers. What’s more, by including numbers, percentages and figures, you can impress the hiring manager with a results-oriented, rather than a task-driven resume. In addition, including numbers conveys the direct benefit of having that skill.
For example, an IT manager’s resume could describe an achievement by saying, ‘Delivered industry-leading software on schedule within six months. Saved our client 2 million dollars and generated 8 million dollars in revenue for the organization.’
Target Your Resume to Suit the Role
Enter the accomplishments that are relevant to the job you’re applying for. This not only provides the opportunity to use the right keywords, it also helps your resume grab the recruiter’s attention quickly.
Start off by identifying key skills listed in the job description; these could include job-related skills, adaptive skills and transferable skills. Match the employer’s requirements from the job description to your list of skills and include those that match in the top third of your resume – this way it’s more likely to catch the eye of the hiring manager.
Make a List of Things That Make You Stand Out
Think back to your experiences and identify achievements and accomplishments that differentiate you from the competition. You could use the PAR (Problem, Action, Results) method to describe achievements for maximum impact.
An Achievement-Oriented Resume Gets You Noticed for IT Project Manager Opportunities
An accomplishment-driven resume can get you hired faster compared to a responsibility-oriented one. One of the biggest mistakes applicants make is to include a long list of duties without context. Hiring managers and recruiters want to know how you add value and how you contribute to the organization. What’s more, they want to see how – by executing your responsibilities – you have made a positive impact. Adding accomplishments to your resume not only differentiates you from your peers, it also sets you up for job success.
PMO Partners helps you explore exciting job opportunities in the field of business and IT. Contact us today to discuss your career goals and options.
